Field of the Invention
The disclosed and claimed concept relates to a circuit breaker and switchgear assembly with a component monitoring system and, more specifically, to a circuit breaker assembly with a modular component monitoring system including an impulse sensor assembly.
Background Information
Circuit breaker assemblies provide protection for electrical systems from electrical fault conditions such as current overloads, short circuits, and low level voltage conditions. Typically, circuit breakers include a trip device and an operating mechanism. The trip device detects an over-current condition and actuates the operating mechanism. The operating mechanism open and closes, either manually or in response to the trip device, a number of electrical contacts. These trip devices and protective relays are housed inside a switchgear cell along with the circuit breakers. In an exemplary embodiment, the operating mechanism utilizes a number of springs to generate force for the opening and closing operations. Further, the springs are maintained in a charged state so that, for example, following an over-current condition, the contacts may be closed without having to charge the springs.
The components of a circuit breaker assembly, such as, but not limited to, the operating mechanism components are subject to wear and tear over time. The signal output of other ancillary devices, such as, but not limited to, protective relays, trip units, etc., are also affected due to wear and tear of operating mechanisms and other subassemblies of the circuit breaker. When an operating mechanism component becomes worn, the operating mechanism component should be replaced before it fails during its service, which would cause power outage and increased unscheduled downtime. Rather than waiting for an operating mechanism component to become worn to the point of needing replacement, it is desirable to replace the operating mechanism component preemptively. The focus of the maintenance schedule has already been changed from planned to preventive maintenance. However, further advancement is needed to change it further to Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) where the component failure with its failure mode is predicted in priori and a maintenance is arranged at appropriate time in advance. That is, it is desirable to continuously monitor the “health” of the circuit breaker and switchgear subassemblies, operating mechanism components and diagnose when an operating mechanism component will need replaced.
There is, therefore, a need for a component monitoring system and predictive methodology that are structured to monitor circuit breaker assembly operating mechanism component characteristics, as well as other components such as, but not limited to, switchgear, power distribution and transmission system components. Further, there is a need for a modular, portable, ‘plug and play’ type and retrofitable component monitoring system that may be moved between circuit breakers.